Paul Kelly

"Paul Maurice Kelly" (born 13 January 1955, South Australia) is an Australian singer-songwriter, based in Melbourne, and widely considered as an icon of Australian music.

His output has ranged from bluegrass to studio-oriented dub reggae, but his core output comfortably straddles folk, rock, and even some country. His lyrics, simply and laconically voiced, have managed to speak to Australian experiences and history perhaps more broadly and directly than any other artist, from "Bradman"http://www.paulkelly.com.au/lyrics/bradman.html, about the Australian cricketer Sir Donald Bradman, through "To Her Door"http://www.paulkelly.com.au/lyrics/to-her-door.html, a tale of a struggling couple's breakup and attempts at reconciliation, to "Every Fucking City"http://www.paulkelly.com.au/lyrics/every-fucking-city.html, a darkly comic story of a backpacker chasing a former girlfriend through a Europe stripped of distinctive national character.

Kelly was raised in, Adelaide, South Australia, the sixth of nine children, in a family of Irish Catholic heritage.

Kelly's career can be broken into three distinct periods: first as Paul Kelly & The Dots; then as Paul Kelly & The Coloured...